Patrick Mara responds to a question at a debate during his previous at-large Council run, in 2011. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Who is this well-scrubbed Rhode Islander, this candidate for all seasons, this Republican of destiny? The Post’s Tim Craig and City Paper’s Alan Suderman do their best to figure out what Patrick Mara is all about, as he toys with front-runner status in his third D.C. Council run. (“I mean, dude, we’re so ahead right now,” he told Suderman.) He’s alienated some fellow Republican candidates, his past as a Capitol Hill lobbyist and business consultant is murky, and he makes money these days selling political trinkets on eBay. But he has a fiscally conservative, socially progressive, pro-education message that appears to resonate — at least among the 10,000 to 20,000 voters necessary to win the citywide special election on April 23.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

To pause and restart automatic updates, click "Live" or "Paused". If paused, you'll be notified of the number of additional comments that have come in.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.